


Permit to Love

by alecmagnuslwb



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff, M/M, a whole lot of meet-cute fluff, an extension of a flufftober day, it's super cute, this is basically just flirting and fluff mixed with parks and rec references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-14 01:34:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18042944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alecmagnuslwb/pseuds/alecmagnuslwb
Summary: Alec and Magnus meet and fall in love one permit request at a time.





	Permit to Love

**Author's Note:**

> Set in the same universe as day 8 of my Flufftober fics (pets), this is how that Alec and Magnus met. AKA the Parks and Rec world the author created so she could mix her two favorite things together :)
> 
> [That one shot can be read here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16202819/chapters/37952744)

The permits desk is, in Alec’s humble opinion, the actual ninth circle of hell. He’s been working at the Parks and Recreation department for three years and it’s a part of the job, a terrible part of the job, but a part of the job nonetheless. He’d drawn the short straw at the start of the year, stuck working the desk for three long summer months, the time of the year when people come in with the absolute craziest and most frequent permit requests.

“Have a nice day,” he says with the biggest, fakest smile he can plant on his face as the woman he just granted a permit for leaves. In actuality he hopes she has a terrible day, he doesn’t understand why it’s so hard for people to understand that no, a permit for park space does not mean you can go topless ten yards from the monkey bars.

Maia starts cackling from her desk once the woman is out of hearing range, Luke leaning against it at least has the decency to try and contain his laughter.

“You are my boss so I’m gonna let it slide,” Alec says turning with a sigh as he gestures to Luke. “But you,” he says waving at Maia with playful annoyance. “You are just cruel laughing at my pain this way.”

Maia responds by laughing even harder. Alec walks over to her desk, wadding up a nearby piece of paper on his way to throw in her direction. Luke steps forward taking the paper from his hand.

“Play nice kids,” he says as he tosses the paper expertly into a trashcan nearby on his way back into his office.

Alec slumps into the chair in front of Maia desk heavily, “The people in this town are so weird.”

Maia hums in agreement. They’ve both lived in the medium sized town of Alicante for their entire lives, grew up side by side along with his siblings and Maia’s girlfriend Clary. The residents can often leave a lot to be desired, with their strange requests and weird specific views on the way the local government works, but it’s home. Alec’s passionate about his job he’s not the youngest Deputy Director the city has ever had for no reason. He loves helping the city and allowing the parks and outdoor areas to thrive, but damn is it weird sometimes.

“Incoming,” Maia says eyes trained on the door no doubt catching sight of another insane city resident. Alec tilts his head back, eyes rolling with a groan before standing just as he hears footsteps enter through the doorway.

Alec rubs the back of his neck head down as he walks forward reaching his side of the tall desk just as whatever permit requester reaches the other side. Alec braces his hands on the desk’s edge and looks up and wow, oh wow does he really hope this man isn’t another crazy person. He’s tall, with gorgeous brown eyes framed with a sharp dark line of kohl, skin somehow impossibly glowing, his dark hair piled high and styled artfully. He’s wearing a tight black button up with a pink and red floral pattern on it that he’s pulling off in a frustratingly good way. Alec can’t see past his waist because of how he leans close to the desk, but if the top half of the man’s anything to go by he’s sure the bottom half is impressive.

“Hello,” he says with a beautiful lilt in his voice, a smiling lighting his face.

Alec freezes for a second, completely in awe of the man before him, before realizing he’s paused a little too long to respond.

“Hi,” he says a little nervously. “How can I help you?”

“Lots of ways, I hope,” the man says scanning Alec up and down a little deliberately best he can. Alec can practically feel the look like a touch and he just might die. “But for now, I actually just need a permit to throw a birthday party in Hillside park.”

“Okay,” Alec says a little cautiously, no matter how beautiful this man is and how inexplicable it is that he just flirted with Alec he might still be a crazy person. “Do you know party attendance size, a date and time for the event and if you’ll be needing a park structure with benches?”

“Shouldn’t be more than maybe 20 people,” the man says. “And yes, to the structure. We were thinking the cove by the basketball courts with the concrete tables, on July 15th noon to five.”

Alec nods and types the date and time into the computer to check for availability.

“Looks like it’s available,” he says still a little hesitant. No one ever has this simple or already thought out of a request. “Are you sure that’s it? No jungle cats will be in attendance or frozen margarita filled basketballs?”

“No, unless my niece has some real wild, not age appropriate ideas for her Space Jam themed 5th birthday,” the man says face twisting up in confusion, it’s kind of adorable Alec notes. “Have those things been an issue before?”

Alec huffs a laugh as he leans down to pull out the proper paperwork for him to sign, “You wouldn’t believe the requests we get sometimes.”

The man laughs as Alec stacks the papers neatly together then gives him a quick rundown of what they mean and where to sign.

“Okay, all you have to do is go up to the fourth floor to pay the 25$ fee and they’ll stamp this for official approval,” Alec pauses looking at the name at the bottom of the sheet. “Mr. Bane.”

“Magnus, you can call me Magnus,” the man says with a smirk clearly leaving an opening for Alec to introduce himself as well.

“Alec Lightwood,” he says with a smile.

Magnus smiles back, tilting his head for a moment in question, “Short for Alexander?” Alec nods, no one ever calls him that, but he likes the way it rolls of Magnus’ tongue so he can’t complain. “Alright then, Alexander, I hope I’ll see you around.”

Magnus winks before turning around to exit, Alec’s eyes lingering down because as predicted the lower half is just as good. It’s not until a few minutes later when Maia leans on the desk next to him that he realizes he hadn’t responded to Magnus’ goodbye.

“Alec and Magnus sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Maia sing songs delightedly.

“Shut up,” he grumbles pointedly looking away shuffling the papers in front of him around totally and absolutely not admiring the gorgeous script of Magnus’ handwriting.

***

It takes the entire weekend for Magnus to realize that maybe Alec isn’t all that interested despite Magnus’ flirtations and the seemingly instant attraction between them.

“Or maybe he’s just a good government employee who doesn’t illegally look at the phone numbers of strange flirtatious men on official permits just so he can call them,” Catarina says when he expresses his woes to her.

“Could be that too I guess,” he sighs ignoring her exasperated tone.

“You know where he works,” Catarina says pushing his feet his raised feet off the main desk they’re sitting at. “You know he’s cute, so why not use your rare free afternoon off to go down there and ask him out instead of harassing me at my work where I’m trying to save lives.”

“Cute is an understatement, Cat, a gross understatement the man is an Adonis,” he says vehemently.

“That was so not the most important part of what I just said,” she says practically dumping him out of his wheelie chair. “Now get.”

“You’re so mean, I work here too you know,” he grumbles which she completely ignores. “This is all your fault sending me to get the permit for Madzie’s birthday, so you should have to listen to my woes.”

Catarina just rolls her eyes pushing Magnus further down the hall towards the exit.

Magnus grumbles the whole drive down to City Hall even though he knows Cat is right. He should have just asked Alec out then and there, but he hasn’t really been on a date since he ended things with Camille and moved here and that was nearly a year ago. Admittedly, he’s spent most of that time working hour after hour at the hospital which has prevented him from cultivating a real social life outside of Cat and Madzie, but he’s also become cautious after Camille. And Alec’s the first person he’s looked at and felt a spark since the end of that nightmare, so he can’t help but be a little nervous.

Nerves, that’s all it is. Which is exactly why when he enters the doors of the parks department and sees Alec perk up when he spots him, he starts asking about flyer permits, not dates.

“Oh,” Alec says a little disappointed the light in his pretty hazel eyes dimming a bit, Magnus knows the feeling he’s a little disappointed in himself too. “Well there’s different permits depending on which park you want to put them up in, which ones were you thinking?”

Which parks? It’s a great question, that Magnus doesn’t have any clue how to answer considering he’s just made up this fictional need for putting flyers on the fly 30 seconds ago.

“Hillside,” Magnus says defaulting to the same park that brought him here the last time. Alec nods handing him the proper form.

“So, what are the flyers for?” Alec asks after a few minutes of quiet.

Magnus looks up, the first name and reason he can think of slipping from his lips, “Missing dog. My friend Ragnor lost his dog, so flyers.”

Ragnor does not have a dog at all, he also lives in London, Magnus may be a disaster.

“Oh, well don’t you want to put them in more parks then to get the word out, maybe even on some phone polls?” Alec inquires, which makes complete sense, however Magnus has an idea pop up in his mind.

“Nope, just the one park,” Magnus smiles brightly, there’s no way he’s working up the courage to ask out Alec today so he’ll just have to have an excuse to come back. More flyer permits seems like a reasonable easy excuse he thinks.

“Okay,” Alec says pausing before testing the waters. “Well if you change your mind you can always come back.”

“I will,” Magnus says with a smile staring into Alec’s eyes a little longer than necessary. Another person comes in immediately and impatiently tapping their foot in line behind Magnus which Alec rolls his eyes at discreetly. Magnus rolls his eyes as well handing Alec his copy of the now signed form. Alec reaches out taking the paper from his hand, Magnus deliberately brushing the tips of his fingers with Alec’s.

“See you soon?” Alec asks looking up at Magnus under from under his lashes.

Magnus nods with a smile, “Soon.” He turns giving the impatient man behind him a somewhat annoyed look as he heads out into the hall. Soon. He’ll come back soon and this time he’ll be ready.

***

Magnus comes back for three separate flyer permits before the weeks out and for some vague reason stops by for a permit to have an open flame in Ramset park the following month the Monday after that. Each time, he walks through the door he takes Alec’s breath away. He learns a little bit more about Magnus with each permit. He comes in wearing scrubs on his lunch break from the hospital pediatrics department which Alec’s learned is where he works. His makeups a little lighter and the layers of jewelry he’d worn the first two times are no longer present but he’s just as beautiful in Alec’s eyes. He’s also still fairly new to town as well as sweet and funny and clearly a very dedicated friend considering the number of flyers he has to be hanging up.

Alec thinks that Magnus must like him too, he asks questions that have absolutely nothing to do with permits, inquiring about Alec’s job and his personal likes and dislikes, but he can’t seem to work up the courage to ask him out. And no Maia and Luke’s constant teasing about the whole thing isn’t helping.

It’s Thursday, almost three full days since he last saw the gorgeous doctor of his dreams and even though he only knows some small bits and pieces of who Magnus is, he realizes he misses him. It’s silly, but it’s how Alec feels.

“Good Afternoon,” a familiar voice says pulling Alec from his lamenting over his salad at the common table behind the permits desk.

“Magnus,” he says unable to stop the no doubt goofy smile on his face as he stands. “Need more flyer permits?”

“Uh, no,” Magnus says a little embarrassedly for some reason. “I actually need another park rental. I volunteer over at the blood drive center and we’d like to set up a donation event in Dunfield park in October.”

“Cool, what date were you hoping for, I’d like to show up and donate,” he responds realizing he both wants to and he’s planning out an excuse to see Magnus three months from now. That’s how much confidence he has in himself about asking Magnus out. “But also, for the permit, obviously too.” He adds realizing he needs to do his job.

They chat idly as Alec searches for the appropriate form, explaining to Magnus that it’s a different form for charitable public events that private birthday parties. He finds the PW-2953 form handing it to Magnus to fill out and they continue chatting about his nieces upcoming birthday party as he fills in all the blanks.

“So, anyways,” Magnus finishes after a few minutes pass of discussing Madzie’s obsession with Lola Bunny as he’s signing at the bottom of the last page. “Madzie is over the moon about the fact I scored the spot by the basketball courts.”  

“I’m glad,” Alec says with a smile as Magnus hands him the forms, fingers brushing. “She sounds like a great kid.”

“She’s the best,” Magnus says with a fond smile. The fact that he clearly adores his niece and is great with kids via his job has Alec thinking about things that it’s way, way too soon to be thinking about.

“Magnus, do you want,” Alec starts gearing himself up to ask the question he so badly wants to ask. What comes out however is the exact opposite, “Me to file these for you upstairs?”

Alec is suddenly reminded of the time he, Isabelle and Maia were playing in Ramset park when they were little and a sinkhole opened up right next to them unexpectedly. He’s wishing one of those would open up again, but this time he wants it to open up directly beneath him and take him away from this place forever.

“Oh, yeah, um you said that the fee and details will be sent to my boss anyways, so I guess that’s alright,” Magnus says a little disappointedly. Alec can’t blame him for the tone, Alec’s pretty disappointed in his question as well. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Alec says thinking about how to recover this, but instead his mouth betrays him again. “I figured you probably had to get back to the hospital, so it’s no problem.”

Magnus looks disappointed again, sighing in agreement, “Yeah, well I guess I’ll see you around then.”

“Yeah,” Alec says trying to sound less dejected than he feels. “Bye, Magnus.”

Magnus throws Alec a tiny wave backing out of the doors, as soon as he’s cleared them Alec slams his head on the desk with a loud thump.

“Did that hurt?” Luke asks from behind him, Alec really hopes he didn’t hear that entire exchange.

“No,” Alec lies, rubbing his forehead as he lifts it from the hard-wooden surface to face his boss.

“I was actually referring to that embarrassing interaction you just had with Dr. McDreamy,” Luke responds.

Alec groans, “Oh good you heard that.”

“Well you know what they say about train wrecks, hard to look away,” Luke says with a teasing, but also pitying smile. “What happened there Alec?”

“I don’t know,” Alec says plopping himself into the chair in front of Maia’s desk throwing the forms Magnus just filled out down, his best friend still unaware of her surroundings headphones in with her nose buried in a copy of Jane Eyre. “My brain to mouth filter failed me completely and I just panicked.”

“That much was clear,” Luke says.

“Honestly,” Alec continues on, voicing the thing that explains his panic. “I don’t even know if he really likes me like that.”

“Alec,” Luke says his head tilted in a ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ way. “No one man needs that many permits in a two-week span. Not even you need that many permits and you never stop making park events happen.”

Alec sighs, he hates how logical Luke sounds right now.  

“He’s so into you, Alec,” Maia says startling them both as she pulls her headphones from her ears. “Also, he’s bi, before you start to try and reason out that maybe he’s just friendly and straight.”

Alec and Luke both squint at her questioningly.

“How do you know that?” Alec asks. Magnus has never mentioned any sort of romantic interests or past relationships so Alec hadn’t ever thought about Magnus’ possible sexuality beyond the fact that maybe he was interested in Alec on some base level.

“Bisexual mind powers, we call to one another,” she says seriously before smiling brightly. “Just kidding, he was wearing a pride pin on his lanyard, if you weren’t so busy staring all moony into his eyes all the time you might have noticed.”

“Yeah, well none of that might matter now, cause I’m pretty sure I just blew it,” Alec sighs thumping his head down onto Maia’s desk this time.

“You could be blowing something else if you just asked him out,” Maia says without missing a beat which makes Alec groan in disappointment and embarrassment.

“Maia,” Luke says warningly, he’s a cool boss but he still requires an air of professionalism when they’re in city hall. She shrugs apologetically finally sitting her book down and picking up the forms Alec had discarded studying them.

“Um, Alec?” she says. Alec simply groans something that he hopes sounds attentive not lifting his head from the desk. “This is a PW-2953.”

“Yeah, that’s what he asked for, so,” Alec shrugs his voice slightly muffled by the desk.

“He asked to rent an airport hangar?” Luke questions.

Alec’s head shoots up from the desk, “A what?”

“Form PW-2953, permission to rent an airport hangar,” Maia explains.

“No, a PW-2953 is permission to rent a park for non-profit events,” Alec says in a rush looking between Luke and Maia frantically.

“That’s a PW-2952,” Luke says slowly. “Wow this guy really has a hold on you if he’s got you forgetting official form codes.”

“Oh, no,” Alec says grabbing the papers from Maia’s hands. “Oh, no.”

“Well on the upside you have a very good reason to go see him again,” Maia says with a smile as she picks her book back up, leaving Alec to his minor breakdown.

***

The next day Alec finds himself at the hospital, not because that sinkhole he was hoping for had opened up and swallowed him, but because he felt so terrible about messing up the forms, he couldn’t just call the number on them and make Magnus come down to City Hall once again.

“At worst he’ll think I did it on purpose to be weird at him again and at best he’ll think I’m incompetent,” Alec said before Maia and Luke had physically shoved him out the door to do what needed to be done both for the sake of this blood drive and for Alec’s sake before one of them killed him for his constant flailing about.

Alec rounds the corner to the main information desk on the children’s wing where he’s greeted by a cheerful young Asian woman who informs him that Magnus is in the cafeteria at this hour when he inquires. His eyes find Magnus as soon as he steps into the bright cafeteria, drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Alec can’t believe he didn’t just ask him out yesterday. Magnus looks up spotting him as well, saying something quickly to the woman sitting across from him and standing to walk towards Alec. The woman not so subtly swerves around in her chair to appraise Alec. Judging from the smirk she’s sporting he’s pretty sure she approves.

Alec smiles when Magnus reaches him, but it fades when he notices the worried look on Magnus’ face.

“Alexander,” he asks quickly. “What are you doing here? Did something happen? Are you okay?”

Oh, right, he now sees how this might look most people don’t come to the hospital for good reasons. Not that this is necessarily for a good reason, Alec did potentially subconsciously ruin a blood drive just to see the man he has a crush on again.

“I’m fine,” he says back instantly. “Everything’s fine.” Magnus breathes a sigh of relief. “I actually just came by because I messed up with your forms yesterday, I had you fill out a PW-2952 and you needed to fill out a 53.”

“Oh,” Magnus says in surprise. “You don’t seem like the type to mess up form numbers in your line of work, Alexander.”

The fact that Magnus had noticed Alec’s love for his job makes him feel warm. “I’m not usually,” he shrugs a little self-deprecatingly rubbing at the back of his neck.

“You could have called,” Magnus smiles.

“I know,” Alec shrugs again. “But I felt bad and I didn’t want to make you come all the way down to City Hall because of my mistake, so I figured I’d bring them here. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Magnus says reaching out to lay his hand on Alec’s bicep, it’s the first solid touch they’ve shared and it feels electric on Alec’s skin. “It’s not like you did it on purpose.”

He didn’t. Or at least, he’s pretty sure he didn’t. He really hopes his subconscious didn’t try to thwart a blood drive just to see a pretty man.

“Still,” Alec says about to hand Magnus the forms in his hand when a loud beeping noise interrupts him. Magnus’ hand drops from his bicep reaching into his pocket for a blaring pager.

“Dammit, I have to go,” Magnus says apologetically.

“Don’t worry about it, go save lives,” Alec says.

Magnus smiles, still a little apologetic. “I’ll be by Monday to fill out the right ones,” he says rushing past Alec and out the door.

***

The weekend flows by in a flurry of work and emergencies that carries into Monday allowing Magnus barely 30 minutes of time to head over to City Hall. When he gets there he’s disappointed to find a handsome man at the desk, but not the handsome man he was hoping to see.

“Magnus, right?” the man says with a warm smile before Magnus can even say hello.

Magnus nods, “That’s me.”

“Luke,” the man says stretching out a hand to shake briefly. “Alec asked me to make sure you got these,” he continues after breaking their handshake pulling a set of post-it marked papers from under the desk.

“And where is Mr. Lightwood?” Magnus asks trying not to seem to obvious and failing.

“Mr. Lightwood,” Luke chuckles. “He’s out sick. A rarity I assure you, the boy once came into the office for a ribbon cutting ceremony high on flu medicine.”

Magnus’ eyes widen, he knows just how strong those medications can be.

“Boy loves a good ribbon cutting, what can I say,” Luke continues with a grin. “The best part however was directly after while wearing a pink parka mid-April he tried to attend a Chamber of Commerce meeting directly after and called it the Chamber of Secrets.”

 “I don’t think he’ll be too pleased that you’re telling such embarrassing stories about him,” Magnus says through laughter.

Luke shrugs with a fond smile, “I live to embarrass the kid.”

“Well do be sure to tell him that I said hello and I hope he doesn’t try to attend any ribbon cuttings this time,” Magnus says attention back on the forms in front of him.

“Oh, I will,” Luke says knowingly. Magnus fills out the forms quietly, Luke tapping away on the computer beside him. He checks over the forms when Magnus slides them his way.

“Alright these look good, I’ll send them upstairs and then all the finalizations will go to the head of the center, you just need to bring this with you on the day of in case someone checks for your permit,” Luke explains tearing off Magnus’ copy.

“Thank you,” Magnus says. “It was nice meeting you, Luke.”

“You too,” Luke nods as Magnus steps away. “Oh, and Magnus?”

Magnus stops in the doorway and turns his attention back to the man.

“I hope you need another permit some time soon, like Wednesday, Wednesday would be a good day to need another permit.”

Magnus smiles and nods turning to head out the door. He can only assume that Luke and the pretty girl with bouncy curls, that Magnus has learned is named Maia, who’s always at the desk behind Alec not so subtly listening in whenever Magnus comes around have both been giving Alec as much grief about this dance they’ve been doing as Catarina has been giving him.

Yeah, he’ll be back on Wednesday for another permit.

***

Magnus is running out of reasons to show up and request permits, the blood drive had been actually very real, everything after that had been on Alec’s initiative to right the wrong. So now here he is walking back into City Hall trying to desperately to come up with a reason to ask for another permit.

“My bird is missing,” Magnus hears a booming voice say as he turns into the hall where the parks and rec department is.

“Okay, well let me get the for-“ Alec starts before the voice interrupts.

“There’s no time, he can fly!”

Magnus reaches the door at the outburst, just in time to hear Alec’s under his breath reaction, “Well I sure hope he can.”

The man takes the form Alec had just barely even sat on the desk and pulls a sharpie from his pocket. The man scribbles something on it quickly then slams it down in front of Alec before storming out the door past Magnus.

“Well that was interesting,” Magnus says as Alec reads the paper in front of him. Alec hums holding the paper up so Magnus can see. MISSING BIRD: INVISIBLE WITH RED WINGS is written across the sheet in all caps with a scrambled signature at the bottom that looks a lot like it’s supposed to say Jennifer Lopez.

“I don’t think JLO will be finding his bird any time soon,” Alec says with a laugh laying the paper in a basket that’s labeled ‘For Maia’. Magnus laughs raising an eyebrow in question at the basket. “Maia’s on a five-day weekend,” Alec explains. “Promised her I’d save any of the forms by our more…interesting characters that she might miss.”

“None more interesting than me I hope,” Magnus says flirtatiously.

“Definitely not,” Alec says with a smile leaning forward onto the desk closer to Magnus. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here on Monday to help you with those corrected forms.”

Magnus leans on the desk in response as well, despite its width it still puts them pretty close together.

“It’s alright, Luke was perfectly helpful,” he says. “I’m just glad you’re feeling better, I hope it wasn’t anything too serious?”

Alec shakes his head with a smile, “Nothing serious, just my sister probably shouldn’t be allowed near a kitchen. I should really know better by now.”

“Well, if it ever happens again do keep in mind you know a doctor you can call,” Magnus says gesturing to himself.

Alec blushes, “I’ll keep that in mind. Even though technically I don’t have your number, yet.” He freezes, wide eyes meeting Magnus’ quickly speaking again before Magnus can respond to that all important yet. “Anyways,” he coughs. “Can I help you with another permit today?”

It sounds weirdly robotic, like Alec’s trying way too hard to be professional.

“Yes,” Magnus starts all ready to go into his elaborate need for a permit for another birthday party that’s completely fictional, but then he thinks for a moment. He could do that, another charade to spend a few stolen moments with Alec or he could go for it, it’s clearly mutual, all but confirmed by Luke’s leading comments the other day, he could let the nerves go.

“Actually, no,” he says looking directly into Alec’s eyes. “I was going to make up this whole elaborate thing about needing another birthday party permit or maybe even telling you I’m JLO and I’ve lost my bird since that seems to work.” Alec laughs as Magnus takes a breath gearing up to finally ask the question he meant to ask the second day he’d seen Alec. “But, instead of doing that I’m just going to ask you outright, would you like to get dinner with me on Friday?”

Alec smiles, “Like as in a date?”

“Yeah, like as in a date,” Magnus says hoping for an affirmation, but preparing for a kind rejection if he must.

“I’d love that,” Alec says, not a shake of doubt or lack of want in his words. The two of them just stare into each other’s eyes without saying another word for a little while, minutes passing comfortably before Alec perks up with a question.

“Did you really need all those other permits?”

Magnus groans, “Ugh, no, I just needed an excuse to see you again, I got nervous about asking you out so I panicked. Ragnor is real, but he doesn’t have a dog or even live in the United States, I’ve also never started an open fire in a public park before for any reason and don’t plan to. It’s embarrassing and we never need to talk about it.”

Alec chuckles, “Well if it makes you feel any better, I was fully intending to ask you out and instead I told you I’d file forms for you. Forms that were wrong and I’m still not entirely sure if I subconsciously screwed up just to see you again or genuinely just made a clerical error, which I’m still really sorry about by the way.”

Magnus waves off the apology with a laugh, “So we’re both a bit of a mess then.”

“Maybe,” Alec shrugs. “But we got there.”

They chat for a few more minutes, finalizing date plans and officially exchanging numbers before Magnus has to make his way back to the hospital. He hesitates for a moment, then doesn’t overthink it leaning across the desk to place a brushing kiss on Alec’s cheek in parting. From the corner of his eye Magnus swears he sees Luke throw a triumphant fist into the air in his office.

***

Dinner is lovely. Alec shows up to the small local diner that Magnus has grown incredibly fond of in a soft grey shirt and dark jeans that fit him just right and Magnus can’t stop staring. They talk for hours over obscenely large piles of waffles, though Magnus makes fun of the fact that Alec’s is more whip cream than waffle. He learns more about Alec’s family and friends, how he’d gotten into local government because of his parents at first but found a passion in the less politically driven sector of parks and recreation instead. Magnus talks just as much, about his life in New York, his found family and his love of the way he’s able to have a more one on one relationships with his patients and their families in a smaller city.

They find they have more in common than Magnus ever would have guessed and they’re just as different as he would have guessed as well, an understanding balance of one another.

After dinner Alec suggests a walk in one the nearby parks.

“Not Ramset though,” he says gravely before going into a riveting tale about sinkholes and the ongoing struggles he’s had to get funding to stop the racoon reign of terror that exists there.

They walk for so long Magnus loses track of time entirely his fingers linked softly with Alec’s. They find themselves wandering back to the diner’s lot, stopping just in front of Magnus’ car their night sadly coming to an end.

“I wish I didn’t have work tomorrow morning,” Magnus says pulling Alec in a little closer by their still joined hands.

Alec nods in agreement eyes flicking between Magnus’ own and his lips quickly, “I had a great time tonight.”

“So did I,” Magnus says eyes traveling to Alec’s lips and lingering there.

“We should do this again sometime soon,” Alec says.

“Yeah,” Magnus says forcing his eyes back up to Alec’s and away from those tantalizing lips. “Is there a permit form I have to fill out for that or…?”

Alec laughs loud, his head leaning back exposing his pale neck. Magnus forces himself to not lean in and kiss it.

“I don’t believe there is,” Alec says still chuckling lightly, using the motion of bringing his head back down as an excuse to lean his face closer to Magnus’.

“Good,” Magnus says closing the distance between them his soft lips moving perfectly in time with Alec’s like they were always meant to do this.

***

“Good afternoon, Mr. Lightwood,” a cheery familiar voice says pulling Alec’s attention from the pile of forms needing filing in front of him.

“That it is Mr. Bane,” he says leaning forward to peck Magnus’ lips when he reaches the desk.

They’ve been going strong for four months now. That kiss in the parking lot being the catalyst for everything. By the next week Alec had attended Madzie’s birthday party with Magnus immediately earning the favor of his boyfriend’s niece and quickly after that his best friend. From there Magnus had met Alec’s stern but loving mother winning her over with ease, Alec’s siblings and friends who welcomed Magnus in like he’d always been a part of their team.

It’s been the best four months of his life and he can’t believe it all started because he was working the permits desk during the worst time of the year.

“That’s Mr. Bane for me as well by the way,” Alec says pulling back from the quick kiss.

“Not just yet,” Magnus smiles tangling his fingers with Alec’s across the desk. That’s true, the wedding isn’t till next month, but Alec’s already filled out the change of name paperwork and gotten the marriage license eager to file both.

Alec had been worried he was moving way too fast when the thought of marrying Magnus crossed him mind not even two full months in. When he’d mentioned it to Maia she’d simply scoffed.

“You could’ve proposed to that man directly after the blood drive fiasco and he would have said yes, I wouldn’t be surprised if you two were married before the years out,” she’d said.

So, he thought about it, about the time they spent together, about how everything in their lives from books to family had fit together like seamless puzzle pieces. By two months he’d moved out of the spare bedroom at Maia’s house and into Magnus’ home with ease. Then on their three-month anniversary he was sure they were both in the same place, so he’d creatively printed up a fake park rental form with one simple question on it in bold letters.

Magnus had jumped into Alec’s arms toppling them both to the ground with a repetitive mantra of yeses.

This is it for them, it might seem rushed, but they know this is built to last and couldn’t see a point in waiting around for a socially acceptable time to get married and please other people.

“Ready for lunch?” Magnus asks letting go of Alec’s hands so he can stand and join Magnus on the other side of the desk.

“Ready,” Alec says tossing a wave to Luke in his office. Magnus links their fingers together again tugging Alec into the hall and towards the exit. “I’m drowning in permits and I need a break.”

“They just don’t have the same thrill after you’ve met the world’s most handsome man because of one, huh?” Magnus jokes as they walk out the front doors of the building. Usually Alec would play into this back and forth banter that would inevitably turn into a compliment battle that neither of them would truly win or lose, but in this moment a few short weeks out from their wedding just outside the place they met he’s overcome with every beautiful feeling he has for Magnus.

Alec tugs him to a stop at the top of the stairs pulling Magnus into him for soft, but deep kiss as the afternoon sun beams down on them.

He pulls back after a moment and looks down at his fiancés face. Magnus’ eyes are still shut, a soft content smile on his lips that Alec traces with the pads of his fingers before settling his hand on Magnus’ neck softly.

“What was that for?” Magnus asks as Alec rubs his thumb along his jawline. Alec waits for his eyes to blink openly slowly before responding.

“I’m just really glad I got to fall in love with you one permit at a time,” Alec says content and so in love he could burst.

Magnus looks at Alec with that same swell of emotion, “I’m really glad my niece insisted on a themed party that led to me making up many fake excuses for permits so we I could fall in love with you all the same.”

The permits desk in the summer may actually be the ninth circle of hell, but it’s also the place where Alec met the love his life, so maybe it’s also a little bit of heaven.

**Author's Note:**

> Bonus imaginary points to anyone who catches all the direct Parks and Recreation references in this!
> 
> Catch me on tumblr where I'm mostly just screaming about 3B and readily welcoming prompts to get me in writing mode these days: alecmagnuslwb


End file.
